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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Suspect in 2007 disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann freed | |
from German prison in unrelated case | |
By Peter Wilkinson, CNN | |
Updated: | |
3:52 AM EDT, Wed September 17, 2025 | |
Source: AP | |
A German man who is under investigation in the disappearance of British | |
toddler Madeleine McCann 18 years ago was released from prison | |
Wednesday after serving his sentence in an unrelated case, police said. | |
The man, who has been identified by media as Christian Brueckner, had | |
been serving a seven-year sentence that stemmed from his 2019 | |
conviction for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal. | |
He left the prison at Sehnde, near Hannover in northern Germany, on | |
Wednesday morning. | |
In June 2020, German prosecutors said the man was being investigated on | |
suspicion of murder in connection with McCann’s disappearance on May | |
3, 2007, from an apartment complex in the Portuguese resort of Praia da | |
Luz. They said they assumed the girl was dead. | |
Police have since carried out more searches in Portugal. But the | |
suspect, who has denied any involvement in her disappearance, has not | |
been charged in the case. The investigation is not affected by his | |
release. He also remains a suspect in an investigation into McCann’s | |
disappearance being conducted by Britain’s Metropolitan Police, who | |
say he refused their request for an interview. | |
His lawyer, Friedrich Fülscher, has said charges would have been filed | |
against his client long ago if there had been sufficient evidence. | |
The 48-year-old spent many years in Portugal, including in the Algarve | |
resort of Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance. | |
Investigators in the UK, Portugal and Germany are still piecing | |
together what happened on the night 3-year-old Madeleine disappeared. | |
She was in the same room as her brother and sister – 2-year-old twins | |
– while their parents, Kate and Gerry, had dinner with friends at a | |
nearby restaurant. | |
The suspect was tried last year over several unrelated sexual offenses | |
he was alleged to have committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017 and | |
was acquitted in October. The presiding judge said the evidence was | |
insufficient for a conviction, that the court heard from unreliable | |
witnesses and that some had been influenced by media reports on the | |
defendant. | |
The state court in Hildesheim has said it cannot legally disclose | |
whether he will have to fulfill any conditions after his release. But | |
Fülscher confirmed to regional public broadcaster NDR that his client | |
will be required to wear an electronic foot tag, report regularly to | |
probation services and give up his passport. German weekly Der Spiegel | |
first reported on that decision, without naming sources. | |
He still faces an October 27 court date in Oldenburg in northwestern | |
Germany in a case in which he is accused of insulting a prison | |
employee. A district court in the city sentenced him to six weeks in | |
prison for that, but the defense has appealed. | |
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